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2 months ago | 
bleedingheartland.com | Laura Belin |Brian Bruening |Clark Kauffman |Jason Benell
Brenna Bird hid the ball on major disability case. Now she's lying about it Sunday, Feb 16 2025 0 Comments Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird enjoyed suing the Biden administration. She filed or joined more than a dozen multi-state lawsuits against the federal government during her first year in office alone. At least a dozen more lawsuits followed in 2024. Bird has often welcomed media coverage of her legal battles against Biden administration policies.
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2 months ago | 
bleedingheartland.com | Brian Bruening |Laura Belin |Clark Kauffman |Jason Benell
Brian Bruening lives in Clayton County and has been involved in Democratic Party leadership since 2017. He is on Bluesky at @iowarural.bsky.social. When I wrote just under two years ago about my unsuccessful bid for the Iowa House, I affirmed the importance of running as a Democratic candidate in a very red district and said I would do so again. Last fall, I made good on that commitment, and ran for Iowa Senate district 32, with similar results.
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Nov 7, 2023 | 
bleedingheartland.com | Greg Hauenstein |Laura Belin |Macklin Scheldrup |Brian Bruening
I lost my state House campaign. I would do it again Brian Bruening chairs the Clayton County Democrats. The following is an expanded version of a speech he gave to campaign donors and volunteers at a Thank You reception on February 19, 2023. In August 2022, I decided to run as a Democratic candidate for Iowa House district 64, which covers all of Allamakee and Clayton counties, plus the Holy Cross precinct in Dubuque county.
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Jul 9, 2023 | 
telegraphherald.com | Brian Bruening
The Supreme Court took a stand against modernity with the Dobbs decision and overturned Roe v. Wade. Rights and protections that women and their doctors depended on disappeared. The rights of Americans had retracted. The same can be said about the recent 303 Creative decision. The majority of justices stood against progress and codified discrimination against LGBTQ people in public accommodations. Forget the 40-plus years of precedent that upheld laws protecting vulnerable populations.
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Mar 8, 2023 | 
bleedingheartland.com | Rick Morain |Laura Belin |Bruce Lear |Brian Bruening
Rick Morain is the former publisher and owner of the Jefferson Herald, for which he writes a regular column. Americans, as is our wont, continually focus on “the questions of the day.” Some of those issues change over time, but sometimes it takes a long time. And sometimes it’s a puzzlement why they were relevant in the first place. A few examples:1. Why do we need to know exactly where COVID-19 originated? We’ve known for a few years that this coronavirus variant emerged in China.
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Mar 5, 2023 | 
bleedingheartland.com | Laura Belin |Bruce Lear |Brian Bruening |Steve Corbin
Proposals that would cause thousands of Iowans to lose Medicaid coverage or federal food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are eligible for floor debate in both the Iowa House and Senate. Republicans in each chamber's Health and Human Services Committee changed some provisions in the bills, now numbered House File 613 and Senate File 494, then approved the legislation before the March 3 "funnel" deadline.
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Mar 5, 2023 | 
bleedingheartland.com | Herb Strentz |Bruce Lear |Laura Belin |Brian Bruening
Herb Strentz was dean of the Drake School of Journalism from 1975 to 1988 and professor there until retirement in 2004. He was executive secretary of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council from its founding in 1976 to 2000. A bill that would bring back the death penalty for those who abduct, rape, and kill minors in Iowa is not likely to become law this year, but that does not mean the concept of capital punishment is off the legislature’s agenda. Quite the contrary.
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Mar 4, 2023 | 
bleedingheartland.com | Bruce Lear |Laura Belin |Brian Bruening |Steve Corbin
Bruce Lear lives in Sioux City and has been connected to Iowa’s public schools for 38 years. He taught for eleven years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association regional director for 27 years until retiringEveryone probably remembers the junior high or high school bully. The one who terrorized vulnerable kids, who dressed a little differently or didn’t say the right things. The ones who didn’t fit in. Those perceived as “other.”Every school had a bully.
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Mar 3, 2023 | 
bleedingheartland.com | Laura Belin |Brian Bruening |Steve Corbin |Randy Evans
The major pharmacy chain Walgreens has informed Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird that the company will not dispense a drug commonly used for medication abortions and miscarriage care in the state. Walgreens operates 72 stores in Iowa, according to the company's website.
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Mar 3, 2023 | 
bleedingheartland.com | Daniel Clark |Brian Bruening |Steve Corbin |Laura Belin
This column by Daniel G. Clark about Alexander Clark (1826-1891) first appeared in the Muscatine Journal. Lines by Lin-Manuel Miranda run through my head while I’m researching Iowans from the past. “And when you're gone, who remembers your name? | Who keeps your flame? | Who tells your story?”More than a fine song in Hamilton: The American Musical, it’s a reminder of where history comes from. What facts are important to remember—from whose point of view? Who is important to remember—and why?
